Inflation Problem
There seems to be a problem with the inflation calcs. Here's what happened:
1. I set inflation to zero (because I'm trying to model 2009 without any inflation adjustment).
2. I changed Future Inflation to 4% starting in 2010.
3. I entered a Special Expenditure of $432 for 2009, "In Dollars". ESP properly put the $432 in the "Dollars" column, but $415 appears in the "Today's Dollars" column. Some inflation adjustment is going on.
4. If I go to Assumptions and click "Apply" for the 0% inflation rate, $415 now appears in both "Dollars" and "Today's Dollars".
5. If I go to Assumptions and click "Apply" for the 4% Future Inflation Rate, there is no change for 2009 as expected, but they both still read $415.
6. I had previously put in $432 "In Dollars" for 15 future years. They all now read $399 in the "Dollars" column, and something less (as expected) in the "Today's Dollars" column. I'm not sure when the $399 first showed up or why it differs from the $415, these entries for future years were made a couple of iterations ago and I have hit the Apply buttons a few times.
Lynn Grubb
RSS
I have also noticed another anomoly, in the future SS benefits, that appear to stem from changing the future inflation rate.
Since I have set inflation to zero until 2010, and then 4%, I would expect SS benefits to reflect the 5.6% COLA increase for 2009 (which is now law), and then remain at that level (in today's dollars) for subsequent years, independent of the inflation rate. What I see is a one-time reduction of 4% in 2011, and then constant for subsequent years. So future SS benefits are being understated by 4%, the amount of the future inflation rate increase.
Lynn
I'll see if I can reproduce, thanks